Day 126 Finally I reach 200, a three hour trip to do a local bus of route duration 47 minutes.

 The No 200 runs from Raynes Park to Mitcham and I thought perhaps I would start from the farther end at Lambton Road Raynes Park. Therefore I caught the 1330 train to Clapham Junction and then at 1406 boarded the Hampton Court train as far as Raynes Park. I had seen the No 200 laying over at Raynes Park many times when driving to and from Heathrow Airport and the bus at that time was operated by the first 14 single deck AD Enviro Dart 200s of which London General has now in excess of 300. These were registered in 2007 and it was a surprise when I saw they were now replaced by double deckers registered in July this year. The service was now provided by Optare Metrodecker 1050s which are wholly electric.

Optare Metrodecker Me13 at Lampton Road Raynes Park

Having never tried to get a bus at Raynes Park I stupidly walked the wrong way down the road towards Kingston instead of heading right and crossing the road into Lambton Road, so therefore missed the first bus I could have got. I was at the bus stop at 1422 and Me13 was already waiting and left for Mitcham Fair Green at 1431.

A series of new blocks of flats at Atkinson Close
West Wimbledon

The bus does a circuit of the one way system along Worple Road and then back past the railway station before turning right into Durham Road. This road is a constant climb as it turns right into Cottenham Park Road and then winds left up to Copse Hill Church West Wimbledon. Here the bus turns left passing a host of newly built flats, all with gates, until we reached Atkinson Close.

King's College School Rugby field. They also had numerous

tennis courts, hockey pitches and other sports facilities 

Two forlorn phone boxes outside the telephone exchange

We turned around at this point and headed back east along the same road to the church to halt outside King's College school at a stop called Edge Hill at 1438. Straight on from here the bus runs along Ridgeway where we passed Wimbledon Telephone Exchange and reached Wimbledon Village.  The bus took a 270 degree turn and headed down Wimbledon Hill into Wimbledon proper. The bus didn't stop outside Wimbledon station, probably as it is the only bus to turn left along Queens Road where it stopped by the Centre Court retail complex. We travelled along Queens Road to the end where we turned right into Haydons Road, still as the only bus route utilising the road until we reached the A24 at Merton High Street.

Haydons Road victorian villas with almost pargetting
type decoration

The other side of Haydons Road still victorian villas but
not quite as exquisitely detailed

From here the bus passed Merton bus garage where there was another Optare Metrodecker lurking within and turned right at Colliers Wood underground station.

Turning at Colliers Wood
tube station

Instead of running straight into Mitcham which the No 152 does this bus takes Church Road and then turns right down Haslemere Avenue into the Phipps Bridge estate. After running around the western edge of the estate the bus returns to Church Road along Phipps Bridge Road.

Mitcham Church

We passed the church and then turned North towards Mitcham town centre which was a crawl for a while before finally arriving at the Fair Green at 1518. This was exactly 47 minutes after departure which is precisely to time.

There was only one other bus type on the No 200 that I saw 
this AD400 Enduro

Arrival-Bang on time

Me13 moving away
to lay-over after arrival

To return home I caught the No 127 to Carshalton at 1529 and on arrival just missed a No 407 so walked to Wallington Green to catch the No 410 and arrived home exactly 3 hours after leaving home.

Day 125 After a long wait to allow for the manic queues for petrol to subside I risked trying the No 199.

 I did this trip by catching the 1330 train to West Croydon and then the 1340 from there to London Bridge. Before I had my over 60 pass I would have done this by the cheapest way possible but now I just went straight into zone 1 and caught the Jubilee line to Canada Water.  This lead to my reaching the start of the route only an hour after leaving home.

Stagecoach 80119 at Canada Water bus station.

At 1415 I was therefore leaving Canada Water bus station aboard Stagecoach 80119 which had previously been Thames Transit VH38119. I had noticed buses like these last month being utilised on the route No 160 which when I took the route was operated by Arriva Thameside.

Road works all the way from Canada Water to Deptford.

The bus route travels through Surrey Quays stopping at the shopping centre and then heads left into the marina area along Plough Way following which the No 47 and No 188 were also diverted because of roadworks. These roadworks continued along the route to Evelyn Street Londis near Deptford High Street and on the way we traversed what looked like the remains of two bridges over previous wharf areas. Indeed, one parapet said Bridge Wharf in chalk or white paint which was fading away. At 1427 the driver was asked to wait outside this Londis for a couple of minutes. However, by 1437 we had arrived at the Cutty Sark and the bus then did a circuit of Greenwich town centre before heading off down Greenwich South Street towards Blackheath. The bus by now is following the No 180 route which after a stop for a few minutes at Sparta Street headed on to Lewisham railway station.

Commemoration of the battle of Deptford Bridge in 1497
beside the Sparta Street bus stop

At Lewisham station where we arrived at 1447 I saw the new electric buses now on route No 484. On the corner beyond the bus stops the Territorial Support Group were arresting two scooter drivers it would appear, one of whom was older than me!

New electric buses on the route No 484

 The bus then takes the A21 down Lewisham through Catford to arrive at the Catford bus garage at 1501.

Terminus of the No 199 route at Catford Garage

From here I caught a No 54 to Elmers End and then took a tram to Wandle Park and finally a No 410 bus.

 

Day 124 a quick trip on the No 198 previously the 194B 18/9/21

 This is a fairly local bus so caught the 1000 train to Thornton Heath where I arrived at 1013 and walked to Nursery Road along the High Street. This road is at the eastern end of the High Street and until 1990 this route was known as the 194B to Shrublands which was created in 27/2/63, presumably this was when the estate was built.

Arriva T167 awaiting time to leave from layover in Zion Road

Starting point for route 198
in 1964, 7 routes started here

As usual I missed a bus by less than a minute so had to wait from 1018 until 1031 for Arriva T167 to pull up from its layover point. The roads were relatively quiet and so it was only two minutes later when we were at Thornton Heath railway station.

Thornton Heath clock tower

Arriva London's T1 at Thornton Heath bus
garage

At 1039 the bus halted at Thornton Heath bus garage near the 'pond' for the drivers to exchange. On the opposite site of the road was T1, the first of their Alexander Dennis Tridents of which there were 193 in the first batch. At 1042 the bus was back on its way and we were not held up by the roadworks at the end of Mayday Road and sailed on past the site of Croydon General Hospital which is now Harris Invictus Academy. This part of the route I have already covered three times on the No 60, 64 and 109. At 1051 we reached West Croydon station and after a stop in Poplar Walk it was 1059 when we reached East Croydon railway station.

At East Croydon station where I have previously stopped on the No 119 and 194

The bus then follows the route of the No 194 to Shirley, but whereas the No 194 turns right at Shirley library the 198 carries straight on down Wickham Road until turning right at Bridle Road. Here in March 2020 I took a photo of the 198 from the 194 saying it wouldn't be long before I would be on the bus opposite. 18 months later unfortunately I couldn't quite replicate the shot from the other bus.

A No 194 bus emerged just before we got to Bridle Road
so I was unable to replicate the photo I took in March 2020 

The bus travelled all the way up Bridle Road before swinging SE into the Shrublands Estate. The bus does a one way circuit of the estate before terminating at Brambles Close. We reached here at 1123, 52 minutes after departure. The timetable at Nursery Road had said it would take 50 minutes so we kept pretty much to time. 

Typical 1960s housing of the Shrublands Estate

Arriva London's T2 at the terminus of the route

Here I snapped T2 and quickly boarded it to return towards Croydon. By so doing I traversed the remainder of the route until it regains Bridle Road having departed at 1131. 

My return  mount

From the back of T2 my outbound
mount 

Completing the loop around Shrublands Estate
with Bridle Road in distance

I disembarked at the Whitgift Centre and caught a No 410 home arriving at 1215, only 2 1/4 hours since initially catching the train from Waddon railway station.

The photo of a No198 from March 2020

 

Day 123 out and back from the London Borough of Croydon on the No 196 and 197

 Once again I caught the 1100 train to Victoria but only as far as the next stop West Croydon. There I changed for the following London Bridge train one further stop to Norwood Junction where I arrived 1115. I have seen the No 196 bus on many times when travelling on trains to London Bridge but I have never had occasion to use this bus. I reached the bus stop at 1118 and two Abellio double decker buses were waiting to head to Elephant and Castle. 

Approaching the Abellio 2612 which
operated my No 196 at Norwood Junction

At 1123 I boarded Abellio 2612 and this left at 1125 briefly stopping in Norwood High Street before swinging left at the traffic lights and heading up South Norwood Hill. For a short duration along this road the 196 is the only bus as the No 410 turns away to the right. 

Climbing South Norwood Hill
with Croydon transmitter ahead

However, at the next traffic lights the No 468 joins and then both buses run along the same roads all the way through West Norwood and passed Tulse Hill at 1145 until we reached Herne Hill. I was surprised along this road, that one stop was called Biggin  Hill, and just after this despite being high on the hill there was a pond next to the Conquering Hero pub.

Norwood bus garage passed in
West Norwood

At Herne Hill the bus turned to the left along Brockwell Park but was requested to wait here to regulate the service from 1151 to 1153. From here the bus took Brixton Water Lane and then onto Effra Road before turning into Brixton Hill to stop outside Brixton Underground station at 1200. At Brixton Police Station the bus headed left to run past the Brixton Academy and on towards Stockwell.

London School Board Lambeth Division in Stockwell Road

The driver was again asked to wait to regulate the service here outside a building that used to be the London School Board Lambeth offices, for two minutes from 1204-1206. The bus then reached Stockwell and crossed straight over into Binfield Road at the A3, a route only buses and cycles can take. Beyond this we wriggled around Stockwell bus garage and then took Landowe Way until it turned right into Wandsworth Road. This took the bus past the yet to open Nine Elms Underground station and moved into Vauxhall bus station at 1218.

Now closed Post Office in Wandsworth Road

Vauxhall bus station

Under the railway we took Kennington Lane until it crossed Kennington Road and beyond this for the first time in a very long time the bus was the only route until we reached Newington Butts. It was very slow traffic as we approached Newington Butts and it was 1235 before I was able to disembark at Newington Causeway just beyond Elephant and Castle.

Final bus stop on route No 196 

Abellio 2612 clearing to layover before 

return to Norwood Junction

The remains of the Elephant and Castle shopping centre

The destruction of the shopping centre meant I had to go around to the other side of the railway station to access a train to Peckham Rye in order to reach the start of the No 197.

View from Platform 2 of remains of shopping centre

I reached the platform at 1241 and caught the 1250 to Sevenoaks which arrived at Peckham Rye station at 1300. The main high street was being resurfaced which precluded crossing the road outside the station and I noticed that the No 197 was supposed to stop here. I reached the bus station at 1307 and by 1309 the No 197 EH339 was approaching.

Buses laying over at Peckham bus station

EH339 at Peckham bus station

The diversion along Consort Road

London Bridge service crossing over

So because of the resurfacing of Peckham High Street the bus had to follow along Clayton Road until Consort Road was reached. This took us under the railway bridges east of Peckham Rye station and then took the right turn of Heaton Road to join the southern part of the High Street at Nigel Road bus stop.

All buses being diverted away from Peckham High Street

I had actually used this route very much earlier when I did the No 12 which finished just north of Peckham High Street. The bus heads south to East Dulwich Road and then  right at the Clock House pub and up Barry Road with the church shrouded in scaffolding at the top of the hill. This is just around the corner from the Dulwich Library stop which was reached at 1321. This route then joined the South Circular Road at 1324 and headed past the Horniman's Museum and subsequently right into Dartmouth Road at Forest Hill. From here the bus went to Sydenham and down Lawrie Park Avenue and into Penge. From Penge the bus took me back to Norwood Junction via Anerley at 1352, two hours and a half since departure on the No 196.

Norwood Junction station regained

From Norwood Junction the bus route heads through Woodside Green where it is the only bus route for the first time.

Running past Woodside Green

Only one route the No 197
at Woodside Green

It was a slow drift into Croydon from Addiscombe Road and eventually we reached the Fairfield Halls at 1411, one hour and two minutes after leaving Peckham.

Heading towards Fairfield Halls from East Croydon station

EH339 at rest outside
Fairfield Halls Croydon

Finally after almost eighteen months I resume my quest on the 4th anniversary of starting it on the 6th September 2017. The No 195.

 I had been holding off doing the next route so long owing to it being a single decker and the fact it was an hour's journey to reach the start of the route. The route being a single decker had until recently meant numbers on board were restricted and I didn't want to be stuck at a bus stop waiting for a long time or more significantly precluding genuine travellers using the bus when I am riding for 'fun.' It had been the intention that my wife would be joining me but she woke up with a headache so unfortunately I had to make the journey alone.

Since my last trip I have received my over 60 TFL travel pass, which now has to be paid for annually. As my wife received hers in July 2019, she doesn't because the dividing line was the first of August 2019. Even more annoying is that I have not used it at all in the first year, May 2020-2021. The only use it got was going through the barriers from one side of Wallington station to the other!

Waddon railway station

Thus at 1042 I found myself at Waddon station waiting for a train to take me to Clapham Junction. There seemed not to be a 1050 train so I guess post Covid only half hourly trains are provided to Victoria, at least for the present. However, the 1100 arrived on time and deposited me at Clapham Junction at 1130 where I could change for a Southwest Train from platform 5 to Brentford.

Clapham Junction sidings With class 701 prominent

I had yet to see any of the new stock for Southwest Trains the class 701 so it was nice to see one in the sidings at Clapham Junction, as I crossed the footbridge. This unit is 701011 and is one made up of ten coaches. There should have been an 1132 train to Brentford but luckily this was running late and I caught it at 1138 after it had been re-routed to platform 6 and arrived at Brentford railway station at 1159. The station is fairly close to the county court where the No 195 begins its tortuous trip to a housing estate to the east of  Uxbridge.

I felt a photo in a face mask had to be done! Taken on train to Brentford.

As I was about to turn off the road to walk to the bus stabling point a bus pulled away so I waited a good ten to twelve minutes for the next one.

There was already a bus waiting as I arrived and I took a photo of Abellio 8876 expecting that to be my mount but in fact before long two more had arrived. It was the second one, 8879 that took me at 1218 back the way I had just walked from the railway station.

Note how Abellio in West London have branded their buses with the route

The route taken is initially quite a straight one passing Boston Manor Underground station where you can see the tracks and trains in Northfields Piccadilly line depot. This was reached by 1224 having passed the A4/M4 soon after Brentford station and we moved on Northwest to the Uxbridge Road at Hanwell which was reached at 1229. The bus turned left onto the Uxbridge Road at this point and could quickly reach its destination if it continued on the Uxbridge Road. However, soon after Southall Park it took a sharp left turn down Southall High Street to Southall railway station. 

Southall original fire station which more
 recently was Southall Community Arts Centre

The traffic this way was very slow and once we had got past Southall we saw why: there were roadworks in Western Road. It was therefore 1258 before we had breasted the Grand Union canal bridge and were able to head towards Hayes. We crossed the roundabout of the A312 at 1303  and then for a short spell were the only route that takes this road towards Hayes.  Once we had turned right at the end though, there was a plethora of bus routes which traverse the Great Western Mainline at Hayes and Harlington railway station. After this railway station the bus bears to the left and takes Church Road to reach the Uxbridge Road once again at 1320. Fairly soon the bus has to do a 'U' turn in order to access Landsbury Drive as the road at this point is dual carriageway and after a few wriggles through many residential roads we reached Charville Lane and came to a halt at Romney Road in the midst of the Charville Estate at 1332.

To return I initially walked up Charville Lane towards Pole Hill Road with the intention of walking to the Uxbridge Road to get a bus back. However, as I reached the junction a No U7 arrived heading for Hayes Sainsbury's, so I crossed the road and was making my way home by 1341. This bus took me back the way the No 195 had brought me initially but then ran around some other roads to return to the Uxbridge Road. Once at this point I decided to change to get a No 607 Express Bus towards Ealing. Since I had 4 minutes to wait I dived into a shop and procured a bottle of juice and a croissant. I travelled briskly on the No 607 past Hayes and through Southall but just before Hanwell the bus driver announced he was changing buses. I thus thought it was expedient to leave the bus and catch a No 195 that I knew would be following to take me back to Brentford station. At 1428 Abellio 8890 arrived and took me to Hanwell and at this point it became evident that the bus route goes a different way around the triangle depending on direction of travel so I then covered a part of the route I wouldn't otherwise have utilised. This namely being a bit of the Broadway and then Boston Road to its junction with Lower Boston Road. I returned to Brentford railway station at 1446 and caught the 1454 to Clapham Junction and then the 1539 to Waddon having to wait over twenty minutes owing to the reduced frequency of trains. Below is a helicopter landing at Battersea Heliport from Platform 15 at Clapham Junction.